For much longer than they care to remember, the Soo Greyhounds have been junior hockey's equivalent of a Third World country: Desperate for more foreign aid.

For every Robin Lehner, Josef Vasicek and David Kuchejda they've grabbed from the Canadian Hockey League Import Draft, there've been many more Tomas Rachuneks, Simon Fischhabers, Jiri Drtinas and Egor Omelyanenkos.

But when it comes to solid production from import players, the 2011-2012 Hounds got a good head start over the weekend with the contributions made by wingers Michael Schumacher and David Elsner.

Both rookies were taken in the 2011 Canadian Hockey League Import Draft, Schumacher, by Owen Sound with the 40th overall selection, and Elsner, by the Greyhounds with pick No. 34.

In their first taste of OHL action, Schumacher scored twice in Saturday's 4-3 loss in Belleville while Elsner had the other Greyhounds goal.

The Hounds got a weekend split, by bouncing back to beat Oshawa 3-2 Sunday.

"Encouraging" was the word GM Kyle Dubas used to describe how Schumacher and Elsner played on the weekend. "Schumacher played really well in both games. Elsner had a really nice goal Saturday and played hard."

By comparison, for an entire season a year ago, the Hounds got just four goals and two assists - total - in Import Draft production.

Having kept a spot open in case Robin Lehner was to return, the Hounds went with just one import, Omelyanenko.

After going scoreless in his first five games, the left-winger notched four goals in a five-game span.

But his poor grasp of systems, shaky positional play and physical and defensive shortcomings, led to Omelyanenko spending a lot of time on the bench the rest of the way.

He failed to score again, while adding just two assists over his final 49 games.

And once the Soo's No. 7 pick, defenceman Yegor Malenkikh, changed his mind about coming here due to a serious family illness, Dubas traded his rights to Owen Sound in a deal that brought Schumacher here.

A big kid - the Hounds have him listed at six-foot-five, 203-pounds - Schumacher is a hard-working power forward, whose skating could maybe use some work.

The German-born Elsner, a six-foot-one, 186-pounder, is a physical, grinding type of player who can also score.

Both impressed during the Hounds training camp workouts and in the annual Red & White Game.

Schumacher, who's from Sweden, had two goals in just his second training camp game. Elsner scored two beauties in the Red & White contest.

Elsner is a 19-year-old (1992 birth year), while Schumacher is 18.

And both are NHL draftees: Elsner in the seventh round to Nashville last season and Schumacher in the seventh round to the LA Kings this year.

As they play to earn pro contracts, both have something to prove in their first seasons in North America.

And, unlike in past years, the Hounds figure to benefit from the presence of both.